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mlewis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide and Grief
Minor: Forced institutionalization and Alcohol
coolfijiwater's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Murder, Torture, and Suicide
Minor: Genocide
qtcarolyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide
nannahnannah's review against another edition
3.0
I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but a lot of people have said, “Where’s the science in all the science fiction nowadays?”. Well … if that’s you, then read this book. I felt like I needed a degree in astrophysics to truly understand it.
Physics … isn’t real?
Back during the Cultural Revolution (mid 1960s) in China, scientist Ye Wenjie is supposed to be sent to a labour camp to be re-educated, but instead she goes to a highly-classified government site created to find alien life.
Then, in the present, we have Wang Miao (nanotech scientist), who also manages to get wrapped up in a similar government project. Or -- literally, kidnapped by cops to be introduced to it. But instead of seeking alien life, they’re exploring the fact that certain scientists keep committing suicide, and they think there’s something out there devoted to destroying mankind.
Wang Miao’s got a lot on his hands, and it only gets worse when he discovers a strange video game called The Three-Body Problem, clearly made for academics. In it, players must solve the puzzle of the game’s world: it has three suns, and the creatures on the planet keep dying when the suns create Chaotic Eras that destroy civilizations.
I may have described this incorrectly, but it’s because I had a difficult time understanding things. It’s written like an academic paper, and I had to read each page twice to understand where things were going. Maybe I’m stupid? Or maybe this book is catered to certain people. Could be both.
While the plot was massive and sprawling, the prose was stilted and awkward. I hope it’s the translator, but I can’t really know. There were character development cop-outs, like one character saying, “I didn’t do this, because I’m quite a lazy man”; “You see why I didn’t do that, right? Because I’m so lazy”, etc. He said he was lazy to justify everything like ten times in that one scene, and I don’t know if that was supposed to be humor? But it just came off as … well, lazy.
There was also some laugh-out-loud sexism, showing this was clearly written by a stereotypical man. Not only were there very few women (except for one of the villains), Wang’s wife and children seemed to disappear halfway through the book. They were never mentioned again. Then there were three female officers who killed Ye’s father back during the Cultural Revolution. They’re now thirty, right? And when they came back, Ye described them as “very, very old, now thirty, one with a stooped back”, etc. This is where I laughed. Literally laughed. I’m now twenty-nine. I guess I’m “very old” as well. When this protag is probably the same age, and he’s fine, but when you’re a woman and thirty, you’re very old and have a stooped back because you’re thirty, etc. Hilarious.
Anyway, when the aliens actually “showed up” they weren’t exactly as menacing as I thought they’d be. The stakes didn’t rise, and the threat seemed very far away. The climax felt the same. Don’t get me wrong, everything was interesting but not very dramatic. I think for me, all the science got in the way. This may be spoilers, but a big part of what was supposed to bring the suspense was the unfolding of a proton. For me, that means absolutely nothing. Maybe someone who actually knows something about science would feel differently, haha!
So I just have to say I felt very lukewarm about everything. I think this book is one of those science fiction novels written for academics to enjoy.
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Suicide
beereads27's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Blood and Violence
Moderate: Murder and War
Minor: Suicide and Colonisation
thecasualbooknerd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Blood, War, and Gun violence
Moderate: Alcoholism and Murder
Minor: Grief, Death, and Suicide
ekcd_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Where to start?
The characters are utterly forgettable and there is not a single redeemable or meaningful relationship between any of the characters or any facet of the story. They only existed so they could talk to each other as a way to move the plot along. Without the characters the whole book could be reduced to one, drunken rant about “like what if aliens lived on an unstable planet?” He put characters in so it wouldn’t just be a really bizarre lecture
This book reads as 350 pages of history and philosophical waxing and then 50 pages of shitty alien fan fiction that is really just the author patting himself on the back for creating analogies that are complicated enough for readers to think him smart but are ultimately meaningless.
By rooting a story in the present and then layering in completely absurd scientific magic over it really removed me from the story. The physics and math were really inaccessible and honesty glossed over that whole chapter.
Nothing in this story or it’s writing made me care about any of the individuals, civilizations, communities or social movements that were used.
I am gobsmacked that so many people praise this book so highly. I love science fiction and read it almost exclusively. The only thing keeping me from rage quitting half way through was rage reading so I could review this book without people saying “you didn’t finish it so you can’t comment on it”
It gets a 1.5 because I was able to finish it quickly (thank god)
Well screw you, fans of this book, I read it and I disliked it!
Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Violence, Suicide, Police brutality, Hate crime, Gun violence, Genocide, Death, Confinement, Colonisation, Classism, and Blood
Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
I don’t regret reading this because at least it gives me something concrete to point my unhinged anger at. Going to drink some tea and read something that I know is good and purejojo50's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Death, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Suicide
savvylit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Additionally, the next two books in this series were overtly misogynist & this one was not. I think this book would be a great standalone novel.
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Gun violence, and Grief
jessthanthree's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Moderate: Suicide, Murder, Torture, and Violence